Today's Banter: Liverpool may save Luton, Rush rates Crouch, Gerrard refuses Chucky Fab game, & more

If Luton Town can somehow manage to beat Nottingham Forest next Tuesday night and advance to the next round of the FA Cup to square off against Liverpool, it may prevent the side from slipping further into financial woe. The Hatters players have yet to be paid for October. It's sad to see a club so rich in history in such dire straits, a club that has been in existence for over 120 years. A club that finished as high as seventh in top-flight twenty years ago, won the League Cup in 1988, and won promotion to the Championship less than three years back. I'm not going to pretend as if I know what's going on over at Luton, but I do know that if a club has to go into administrative receivership, as the Hatters did on November 22nd, and there are prospective buyers 'banging at the door', something has to give.

Ian Rush has made a plea to Rafa for him not to sell Peter Crouch in the January window. The former legend can hardly contain himself when talking about 'the Lanky One': "He has done nothing wrong... Every time he has played for Liverpool he has been superb." With all due respect, Mr. Rush, he's done much wrong and is not good enough for a side that wants to win the League. A couple of weeks back I mentioned I was working on a database of stats for all the Liverpool players, well, I'm still not done with it, but so far, I've learned a couple of revealing things about Mr. Crouch. Most notably his wastefulness on possession. Not just giving the ball away, but also throwing it away by taking poor shots. In due time I'll reveal my findings, but as for now, unless Crouch really picks things up this month, he should be sold. Even if he does go on a remarkable run, one has to wonder, why did he play so poorly for much of this season? A journey into the psyche of Peter Crouch is probably warranted if so, analyzing his ego and pondering his true motivations. Rafa doesn't trust Crouch and he has no reason to. It also worries me that, even though Rush is a former player, a media pundit is making such a plea.

Steven Gerrard has no desire to compare himself to Chucky Fab (Fabregas for those unaware) and would rather concentrate on winning cups as part of a team. Kudos to Gerrard for an expected class response, but just for the record, no manager, including Wenger would take Chucky Fab over Gerrard at the moment. Fabregas is too young and immature, hence all the cards and reckless tackles. I also get the feeling that Chucky wants the rest of Arsenal to rely on him as the main man, which is fine when he's not injured, but as yesterday's 1-1 draw at St. James showed, a place where we demolished the Magpies by the way, is that the Gunners without Fabregas are a decent side, but no where near as good with him. Liverpool has coped without Gerrard at times this season and come out unscathed, beating Sunderland, Derby, and Toulouse, a combined 12-0. The opposition may not have been the best in the world, but is a Gerrard-less Liverpool three goals worse at St. James? No, in fact, Stevie-G played well against the Magpies, but it'll just be another solid performance lost in a book of legendary ones.

Speaking of Gerrard, he's been emphatic lately about getting to play with another world class caliber player in Fernando Torres. They certainly are brilliant to watch together. Remember a couple of paragraphs back when I mentioned the database I was working on, well, it has also showed some odd discrepancies concerning Torres. Let's just say his brilliant finishing saves him from finding a day job, but if you look at in a categorical sense, he does what's required of him with a little Spanish flare. I'm sure I'll rile some feeble bones when I write that post.

Finally, two things before I move on. First, Rafa has acknowledged the progress of Danny Guthrie at Bolton as something he expected. No word on whether we are willing to sell him though. A cluttered in-field is a cluttered in-field, a problem most managers would love to have, but I can't see Guthrie being any higher than sixth on the pecking order there. It sucks, but it looks like it's best for him if we sell him to the Wanderers. By the way, as I mentioned in my kids watch yesterday, Bolton plays in UEFA Cup action in a crucial match at Red Star Belgrade in a bit. No less than a win is required and there's a great chance Guthrie will start.

Also, the BBC should probably just ban the topic of Hillsborough from being discussed or mentioned on it's channels or website permanently. Once again an uninformed commentator has said untrue things about the tragedy for ill-effect. You can read about it here. Godspeed, you muppets.

Today's Banter: Torres backs Benitez, Pepe praises defense, Baros EPL return possible, & more

Fernando Torres has warned that a Rafa exit could result in a mass exodus of players including himself. I believe this 'crisis' has been pretty much put to rest, unless of course the upcoming meeting between Rafa and the owners doesn't go accordingly. You can't really blame Rafa for leaving if he isn't going to get the funds needed to continue to strengthen our side. The thing I find interesting is Rafa saying he was asking about two 'free' transfers. One is widely considered the signing of Masche on a permanent but the other is still a mystery. I wonder if it's someone like Francesco Coco or Jonathan Zebina?

Pepe Reina made sure to thank his defenders for making his job easy. Ya think, Pepe? He should probably pay homage to lady luck as well after Anelka missed a wide open net yesterday due to a poor decision by the Spanish keep. Clean sheets are great when earned, but yesterday Reina had no right walking away with a goose egg under our opponents name on the scoreboard. I realize he probably gets a little bored and rusty with minimal involvement in the match, but it's still no excuse to make glaring mistakes.

Milan Baros may be returning to the Premiership as the Czech striker has lost hope in retaining a first team spot with Lyon. To increase his chances at making the Czech Republic Euro squad, the 26-year-old is looking to move to a club where he'll have a better chance of playing regularly. Wigan, Middlesbrough and Birmingham apparently are all interested in obtaining 'ole condom head'.

Finally, for the FA Cup, we drew the winner of Luton Town and Nottingham Forest. Personally I prefer Forest. Competition-wise, there's little difference between the two League One sides. Forest may be the slightly better club at the moment, but it's far from apples and oranges. The chance to annihilate old foes is always a relishing prospect. Cheers.